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WASHINGTON (AP) — Nancy Pelosi's influence can be seen all across the Democratic Party shakeup that in a few short, agonizing weeks has reengineered the 2024 presidential ticket and the race for the White House.
It was Pelosi who publicly encouraged President Joe Biden to make a decision about his reelection campaign when he had already insisted he had no plans to step aside. Once he exited and endorsed Kamala Harris atop the ticket, it was Pelosi who was a big fan of her future running mate, Tim Walz.
For the House speaker emerita the upheaval is less about Biden, a friend of 40 years, and more about Republican Donald Trump, the former president she refers to as “Bozo,” “a snake-oil salesman,” “what's his name” and the “Creature from the Black Lagoon.”
“How can I say this in the nicest possible way: My goal in life was that man would never step in the White House again,” Pelosi said, slapping the table with every word.
Pelosi spoke Wednesday with reporters and columnists about her new book, “The Art of Power, My Story as America's First Woman Speaker of the House,” which calls for an end to political violence in the U.S. But it’s this final unwritten chapter of Pelosi's career that shows the soft power she still wields that can change the course of history.
Over and again, Pelosi declined to detail her conversations with Biden during this tumultuous period, or if the conversations happened at all. The two have not spoken since he bowed out of the race.
“At some point, I will come to terms with my, to peace, with my own role in this,” she said.
“I think that part of all of our goals in this was to preserve his legacy, a fabulous legacy, that would go right down the drain if Bozo got elected to the White House.”
Some details, though, have come into view as Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries all had private talks with Biden as he made his historic decision to end his campaign.
Pelosi said it was not her intention to put Biden on the spot when she showed up on his favorite morning news program in early July, after his dismal debate with Trump, and suggested he make a decision about his reelection bid.
Biden had just written a letter to Congress, insisting he was pressing on after a number of rank-and-file Democrats started saying publicly he should bow out of the race. It was not well received, she said.
Not only the White House but control of Congress is at stake this November. Pelosi had been hearing from worried lawmakers and she herself did not see a “path to victory” for Biden.
“I was really asking for a better campaign,” she said.
But, she acknowledged about his options ahead, “it was open, in my view.”
Pelosi had told Biden early on she didn't want him on the debate stage with Trump. She thought it was beneath him to stand alongside Trump, who had declined to debate his own Republican colleagues during his primary sweep to the GOP nomination. And she knew Trump would use the venue to be “telling all his lies” unchecked.
“I just thought it’d be like doggy-doo and you're going to get it on your shoe and you're all going to smell like him,” she said.
But she said Biden was very confident and assured her he could handle Trump on stage. “I know you can handle it,” she told him. “But why?”
On debate night, Pelosi settled in at her apartment in Washington to watch and as soon as Biden walked onstage it was disconcerting, she said.
“I was shocked.”
Pelosi said she had “never seen” Biden like that.
Pelosi explained her longstanding advice for debating: Clear your mind. Don't bog yourself down with details. Rest up. Be yourself.
Whatever the question is, “you respond whatever way you want. You own it."
It was clear none of that happened with Biden.
“He’s the president of the United States, a person who for decades has understood a vision of our country based on values, knowledge, issues, therefore judgment about all of it, with more empathy in his heart than anyone,” she said. "Who needs to prep him?”
Pelosi said publicly at the time that she wanted to know if this was an episode with Biden, or a condition?
She made it clear she wanted a more aggressive campaign “so people could see his strength.”
Simply rehashing past accomplishments as Biden was doing is important, she said, to show voters you know how to accomplish goals. But elections are really about what you're doing next.
“Elections are about the future,” she said. “Finish the job.”
None of this rematch with Trump would have been possible if the Senate had voted to convict, rather than acquit, him on the impeachment charge of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, because it would have made him ineligible to seek the White House again. Pelosi blames that outcome on Senate Republican leadership and calls it shameful.
As crowds surge to rallies this week for the new Harris-Walz ticket in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, Pelosi marvels at the energy and enthusiasm flowing to Democrats, particularly from young people.
Pelosi said she thought any of the potential vice presidential contenders would have been great choices. But she has made no secret of her enthusiasm for former House members — which Walz is — to counter the way she believes White House administrations tend to be more deferential to the Senate.
While some were calculating which vice presidential hopeful would best help Democrats in the swing states, Pelosi said the question for Harris was: Who will help you govern? She said she did not put in a good word for Walz, but put in a good word for all the contenders.
Asked if Democrats would win control of the House, she said, “That's the plan.”
Asked if her book title was an intended nod at Trump’s "The Art of the Deal,” she said, “Nothing that I do has anything to do with him, except his downfall.”